Fellow Re-applicant...I appreciate any advice!

[Food]

Hey guys, just wanted to get some thoughts on my re-app prospects.

I applied this cycle to about 16 schools (secondaries). You can check out my stats on MDapps. I only got 1 interview and was just waitlisted at this school. I think poor timing and poor school selection did me in.

From what I understand, most people in my situation have two priorities or ways forward. #1 is to Reapply smarter and better, and #2 is to do everything possible to get off of the wait-list (U of Florida apparently takes a good number of people off of the waitlist - anybody know?)

I was wondering what opinions people had about my chances in round 2. I have decided not to pursue anymore education / grades. My GPA is low, but not low to the point where I need additional grades...I think my lack of experience in clinical settings is something I could fix much quicker and far more efficiently. Thankfully I do not need to retake the MCAT - so I should be able to focus on a good 3-4 volunteer / work activities in clinical or medically-related settings.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated!

Also - I'd really really appreciate suggestions on schools I should apply to - schools that would look more favorably at my stats (low GPA - high MCAT). Im a FL resident btw, and am applying to all FL schools by default.

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[gman33]

Call the schools you applied to and get some feedback.
Make sure you don't have a bad LOR or something else bringing down your application. As a reapplicant you want to do everything in your power to boost your chances. I would be taking more classes this year. The key is to try to improce every area until you get in. I would think if you pick 30 good schools and apply early you should have better luck. At the same time, I'd keep working on your GPA in case you don't get in this year. My thinking is that you want to keep preparing so you will be ready if you have to apply again in the next cycle.

 

[Food]

Call the schools you applied to and get some feedback.
Make sure you don't have a bad LOR or something else bringing down your application. As a reapplicant you want to do everything in your power to boost your chances. I would be taking more classes this year. The key is to try to improce every area until you get in. I would think if you pick 30 good schools and apply early you should have better luck. At the same time, I'd keep working on your GPA in case you don't get in this year. My thinking is that you want to keep preparing so you will be ready if you have to apply again in the next cycle.

I've graduated though...what can I do to boost my UG GPA? As far as post-bacc work goes...it seems to me this only works for people who still have pre-med classes to take due to a career change. I've already ruled out an SMP due to it being an unnecessary risk (something that many SDNers and pre-med advisors agree with).

 

[ChairmanMao]

I've graduated though...what can I do to boost my UG GPA? As far as post-bacc work goes...it seems to me this only works for people who still have pre-med classes to take due to a career change. I've already ruled out an SMP due to it being an unnecessary risk (something that many SDNers and pre-med advisors agree with).

I don't think your GPA or MCAT scores are the problem. You applied late yes, but not unusually late (if you were completed in August that's still before most schools start interviewing applicants).

The only possibility is that you had really bad LOR, crappy essays, and a lack of clinical experience (work and volunteering). I'm not sure if you had other "red flags" such as a Institutional Action (have you ever cheated and gotten caught?) or a criminal conviction, but if you have those and didn't disclose it, then you're really in trouble. Also, how's your GPA trend? If your GPA went from a 4.0 first year to a 3.5 second year, to a 2.9 third year, then that could be the kiss of death to your application since GPA in upperclassmen courses are counted more than freshmen courses.

Since I don't know what your exact situation is, I can't advise you on what to do. FL is supposed to be friendly to in-state applicants. You're school list is OK. Before we offer any suggstions, I want you to think really hard and write down why you think you got rejected.

 

[slick27]

Get you gpa up and more clinical experience. Maybe get your CNA or EMT-B and volunteer on your local firedepartment.

 

[Food]

I don't think your GPA or MCAT scores are the problem. You applied late yes, but not unusually late (if you were completed in August that's still before most schools start interviewing applicants).

The only possibility is that you had really bad LOR, crappy essays, and a lack of clinical experience (work and volunteering). I'm not sure if you had other "red flags" such as a Institutional Action (have you ever cheated and gotten caught?) or a criminal conviction, but if you have those and didn't disclose it, then you're really in trouble. Also, how's your GPA trend? If your GPA went from a 4.0 first year to a 3.5 second year, to a 2.9 third year, then that could be the kiss of death to your application since GPA in upperclassmen courses are counted more than freshmen courses.

Since I don't know what your exact situation is, I can't advise you on what to do. FL is supposed to be friendly to in-state applicants. You're school list is OK. Before we offer any suggstions, I want you to think really hard and write down why you think you got rejected.

Thanks - I will be happy to address those questions.

I don't have any institutional action or honors court type of deal going on, no cheating or criminal offenses of any kind.

As for LORs - I thought about that. I got in touch with an Adcom rep from USF who told me (not sure if he was allowed to do this) that the letters were pretty good, considering they came from UF professors who generally don't write great letters. Either way - he didn't really give me the impression that letters were a problem. Nor did another USF rep I spoke to.

Essays were also pretty good - according to the folks at USF, and my pre-health advisor who read both (primary and secondary)

My GPA trend is as follows : 3.15ish (year 1) to a 3.67ish to a 3.45ish to a 3.4 (year 4) - averaging me out to about a 3.41 overall / 3.34 science or something like that. It's not a great trend, but up from the first year. I've got about 5 Cs freshman year, 2 Cs junior year, and 1 C senior year. I think those caused me quite a few problems. However, I was able to get As in a pretty decent number of upper division chemistry, physics, and bio courses (inorganic, P chem 1 and 2, modern physics, biochem / adv bio chem, eukaryotic cell structure, etc, etc). 2 out of the 3 Cs I had after freshman year were in upper level chem labs (analytical lab, biophysical chem lab) - but was able to get a B in instrumental analysis lab.

As far as experience goes - I think this is what killed me. I did not fill out the max 15 activities on AMCAS. I only had 1 major volunteering activity that might have been considered clinical. I did shadowing, but completely forgot to include it on the AMCAS ( I was obsessed with MCAT at the time - very stupid, I know).

So from what I understand in talking to some Adcom reps and my pre-health advisor, there's not 1 single huge thing that really messed me up...

I will be speaking to some admissions consultants in the next few days, to try to get some of their input. I think I get some hours for free since I've taught extensively for Kaplan.

 

[ChairmanMao]

Thanks - I will be happy to address those questions.

I don't have any institutional action or honors court type of deal going on, no cheating or criminal offenses of any kind.

As for LORs - I thought about that. I got in touch with an Adcom rep from USF who told me (not sure if he was allowed to do this) that the letters were pretty good, considering they came from UF professors who generally don't write great letters. Either way - he didn't really give me the impression that letters were a problem. Nor did another USF rep I spoke to.

Essays were also pretty good - according to the folks at USF, and my pre-health advisor who read both (primary and secondary)

My GPA trend is as follows : 3.15ish (year 1) to a 3.67ish to a 3.45ish to a 3.4 (year 4) - averaging me out to about a 3.41 overall / 3.34 science or something like that. It's not a great trend, but up from the first year. I've got about 5 Cs freshman year, 2 Cs junior year, and 1 C senior year. I think those caused me quite a few problems. However, I was able to get As in a pretty decent number of upper division chemistry, physics, and bio courses (inorganic, P chem 1 and 2, modern physics, biochem / adv bio chem, eukaryotic cell structure, etc, etc). 2 out of the 3 Cs I had after freshman year were in upper level chem labs (analytical lab, biophysical chem lab) - but was able to get a B in instrumental analysis lab.

As far as experience goes - I think this is what killed me. I did not fill out the max 15 activities on AMCAS. I only had 1 major volunteering activity that might have been considered clinical. I did shadowing, but completely forgot to include it on the AMCAS ( I was obsessed with MCAT at the time - very stupid, I know).

So from what I understand in talking to some Adcom reps and my pre-health advisor, there's not 1 single huge thing that really messed me up...

I will be speaking to some admissions consultants in the next few days, to try to get some of their input. I think I get some hours for free since I've taught extensively for Kaplan.

I think your grades and lack of clinical experience are the problem. Your MCAT is fantastic, from what you said, it seemed your LORs and essays are good too, but everything else isn't quite up to standard of what most of the medical schools want. You mentioned that you have 7 C's - that could be the problem. It would have been one thing if you had all of those your freshmen year, but from your grades, it seems as though you're still struggling in some of your classes as a Junior and as a Senior. I hate to say this, but it's almost always better to have a string of B+ in your class and end up with a 3.4 than a smartering of A and C because it gives schools the impression that you're not really putting much effort in those C classes.

Now that you mentioned your AMCAS GPA is 3.41/3.34 - I can definitely see the problem (I thought your GPA was in the 3.40-3.5 range from your MDapps) - a GPA of 3.3 is considered borderline. So it would have to take some extraordinary experiences in order to overcome that. If you didn't have to work full-time through college or if you don't have much clinical experience, you might have a hard time convincing the adcoms that you're motivated to handle a rigorous courseload.

I would really recommend that you spend some time doing additional volunteering/shadowing or maybe finding a job at a hospital. You might also want to consider taking an extra year to graduate and using that year to push your cumulative GPA up to a 3.4 before applying. If you plan on taking 2 years off, that's even better because you'll have improved your GPA by that time, and you will also have a year of shadowing experience before your apply. Ultimately, it's up to you, but I would recomend taking more undergrad courses to boost your GPA and gaining more healthcare experience.

 

[ChairmanMao]

oops

 

[ChairmanMao]

triple post

 

[fizzle]

As for LORs - I thought about that. I got in touch with an Adcom rep from USF who told me (not sure if he was allowed to do this) that the letters were pretty good, considering they came from UF professors who generally don't write great letters. Either way - he didn't really give me the impression that letters were a problem. Nor did another USF rep I spoke to.

This sounds a bit alarming...if the USF adcom rep thought the letters were "pretty good" (aka decent) considering that the UF professors generally don't write great letters, then what are the majority of the schools who don't know anything about specific UF professors supposed to think about these letters? Less than "pretty good"? Is there any way you could find other professors to write your letters? I'd think that a really good letter from a professor who writes great letters for everyone would usually make a better impression to most schools than a "pretty good" letter from a professor who writes average letters.

 

[Food]

This sounds a bit alarming...if the USF adcom rep thought the letters were "pretty good" (aka decent) considering that the UF professors generally don't write great letters, then what are the majority of the schools who don't know anything about specific UF professors supposed to think about these letters? Less than "pretty good"? Is there any way you could find other professors to write your letters? I'd think that a really good letter from a professor who writes great letters for everyone would usually make a better impression to most schools than a "pretty good" letter from a professor who writes average letters.

I think I should clarify. His basis on saying they were good letters did not seem to be the quality of UF letters in general. He gave me the impression that the professors who wrote the letters were very supportive and quite detailed as opposed to generic letters that USF is used to seeing. So I don't think he came to any conclusion that would be vastly different from what other Adcoms would have seen. However, I think you are right to suggest I should try to get similar feedback from other schools I applied to. So far, only USF has been forthcoming with this information. I have contacted just about every other school this weekend, and am waiting for responses on whether they would be willing to share feedback.